Police say victim called 911 before he was found in car in Thornapple River

Press Photo/Dave OdetteThe car is secured to the river bank after the vicim was removed this morning.

Press Photo/Lori Niedenfuer CoolA tow truck lifts the car out of the Thornapple this morning.

CASCADE TOWNSHIP -- State police received four cell-phone calls that they believe came from a 57-year-old man whose body was later pulled from a car found drifting this morning in the Thornapple River.

Sgt. David Kok, of the Kent County Sheriff's Department, said state police received the first call at 4:04 a.m. He said the calls indicated that something had happened but didn't say exactly what or where and didn't say anything about the car being in the water.

"We believe it (the caller) was the occupant of the vehicle, but we don't know for sure," Kok said.

State police used global-positioning equipment to hone in on the car's location and dispatched emergency personnel.

The car, a rented 2007 Chrysler, was found at 4:34 a.m., near 2715 Thornapple River Drive, Kok said, adding that the victim is not a local resident.

Only 6 inches of the car's roof was visible when rescuers found it, said John Shipley, deputy chief of the Cascade Fire Department. Rescuers launched boats to reach the car and removed the victim through a window.

Shipley said he was told that the victim went off Thornapple River Drive, near Cascade Road. Kok said police believe the victim was heading south on Thornapple, and the car was found 200 yards from where it entered the water.

Skid marks were found near where the car is believed to have entered the river, but Shipley said there was no evidence that driver hit anything.

The car got hung up on a rock or it would have drifted farther, Shipley said.

"The current's a big factor," he said. "This is the highest the Thornapple has been in recent years."

Divers weren't sent into the water because of the strong current, Kok and Shipley said. Instead, firefighters were secured and retrieved the body at 5:08 a.m., Shipley said.

Two boats, from the Cascade and East Grand Rapids fire departments, connected a strap through the car's side windows. Personnel then connected that strap to a tow truck chain and pulled the car to shore, lifting it over the retaining wall.

The medical examiner is on the scene. Authorities are trying to notify relatives of the victim.